Fourteen brand guides to harp makers — pedal and lever — with who owns each name today, where the harps are made, and which workshops have closed.
The harp trade is small, and its two most famous pedal-harp names share an owner. Chicago’s Lyon & Healy, harpmakers since 1889, has belonged since 1987 to the group founded by Victor Salvi, whose Italian factory is in Piasco, Piedmont; the New York Times called the result “a genial global monopoly.”
One mechanism, many makers
The pedal harp’s mechanism goes back to Sébastien Erard’s English patent of 1810, for a double-action harp in which each string has two forks worked by a pedal; a Royal College of Music thesis says the design “remains the standard pedal harp mechanism today.” Lever harps change key differently, with a lever beside each string — and many makers buy those levers from Camac, the French harp maker near Nantes.
A national instrument
Ireland’s government says it has “the distinction of being the only nation to have a musical instrument as a national emblem,” and Wales’s official tourism site says the triple harp “is widely considered to be the national instrument of Wales.” Several lever-harp makers in this hub work in those traditions.
Closures and revivals
Chicago’s Venus stopped building new production harps in 2018; Blevins in Colorado had closed by 2025; Pilgrim in Surrey has stopped manufacturing and now services harps; and Teifi in Wales, whose company went into liquidation in 2022, says it aims to restart in 2026. Our guides state each plainly.
How to use these guides
Each guide covers who owns the name today, where the products are made — by the maker’s own account and, where it differs, by other sources — and the brand’s visual identity. A company’s description of itself is attributed to the company, and where a business has closed we say so plainly. The table at the end gathers the essentials.
Pedal and lever harp makers
The major pedal-harp makers and leading lever-harp workshops.
- Lyon & Healy — The Chicago music shop of 1864 that built its first harp in 1889, still handcrafts harps west of the Loop, and has belonged to its great rival, Victor Salvi’s company, since 1987.
- Salvi Harps — The harp maker founded in Genoa in the mid-1950s by Chicago-born harpist Victor Salvi, now made in Piasco, Piedmont, and owner since 1987 of its American rival Lyon & Healy.
- Camac Harps — The harp maker founded in Mouzeil, near Nantes, by the brothers Gérard and Joël Garnier in 1972, named after an Inca god of creation, and maker of the first pedal harps built in France since Érard.
- Aoyama Harp — The Japanese harp maker founded in Fukui in 1897 as a musical-instrument works, renamed Aoyama Harp in 1989, still making pedal and lever harps in a factory it keeps closed to visitors.
- Venus Harps — The Chicago pedal-harp maker founded around 1969–70 by Walter Krasicki Sr., a former Lyon & Healy harp-shop foreman, which stopped building new production harps in 2018 and turned to parts and service.
- Triplett Harps — The San Luis Obispo lever-harp maker started by luthier Steve Triplett, building harps since 1980, which says it uses American-made materials but buys its sharping levers from Camac in France.
- Rees Harps — The family lever-harp maker that moved from California to an 1881 building in Rising Sun, Indiana, in 2000, and registered the Harpsicle trademark for its small, brightly coloured harps.
More lever-harp makers
American and British lever-harp makers, several of which have closed or changed hands.
- Thormahlen Harps — The Oregon lever-harp workshop of Dave and Sharon Thormahlen in Corvallis, building 34- and 36-string harps fitted with Camac levers since Dave made his first harp in 1984.
- Heartland Harps — The harp maker founded by Dave Woodworth, who built more than 1,700 wooden harps before turning in 2009 to carbon fibre, and now works in Darien, on the Georgia coast.
- Stoney End — The Red Wing, Minnesota lever-harp maker that grew from a 1968 dulcimer business, was renamed by Gary and Eve Stone after 1984, and passed in 2025 to Grady and Nikki O’Gorman.
- Blevins Harps — The Grand Junction, Colorado harp maker founded in 1992 by former broadcast engineer Dwight Blevins, later run by the Wright family, which closed by 2025 and offered its name for sale.
- Swanson Harp — Carl Swanson’s Boston harp repair, restoration and rental business, author of A Guide for Harpists, which rents its own lever harps and, by one dealer’s account, now builds only grand pedal harps.
- Pilgrim Harps — The Surrey harp maker founded in 1980 by Peter Cunningham and partners, which says it was Britain’s only pedal-harp maker, has stopped manufacturing, and continues from 2026 as a servicing, hire and strings business.
- Teifi Harps — The Llandysul harp maker founded by Allan Shiers as a community enterprise in 2003–04, whose company went into liquidation in 2022; a new Teifi Harps Ltd says it aims to restart making harps near Cardigan in 2026.
At a glance: who owns the name and where it is made
Taken from each guide’s fact panel, as of October 2026. Ownership and production change; follow the link for sources and detail.
| Brand | Origin | Owner | Where made |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aoyama Harp | Fukui City, Japan (1897) | Aoyama family (private) | Eiheiji Town, Fukui, Japan |
| Blevins Harps | Western Colorado (1992) | Closed by 2025; name offered for sale | Grand Junction, Colorado |
| Camac Harps | Mouzeil, France (1972) | Management-held SAS (Harpes Camac) | Mouzeil (Loire-Atlantique), France |
| Heartland Harps | USA (wood harps from 1984) | Dave Woodworth (founder and CEO) | Darien, Georgia |
| Lyon & Healy | Chicago, Illinois (1864 (harps from 1889)) | Salvi group (since 1987) | Chicago, Illinois |
| Pilgrim Harps | South Godstone, Surrey (1980) | Pilgrim Harps Limited (2026; Penny Johnson, Matt Mason) | Surrey, England |
| Rees Harps | California, USA (1972 (first sales)) | Rees family (Rees Harps, Inc.) | Rising Sun, Indiana |
| Salvi Harps | Genoa, Italy (1955 (Salvi says)) | See guide | Piasco (Cuneo), Italy |
| Stoney End | Minneapolis, Minnesota (1968 (Here Inc.)) | Grady and Nikki O’Gorman (since 2025) | Red Wing, Minnesota |
| Swanson Harp | Boston, Massachusetts (1989 (per directories)) | Carl Swanson | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Teifi Harps | Llandysul, Ceredigion (2003–04) | Original company liquidated 2022; new company aims to restart 2026 | Llandysul (until 2022) |
| Thormahlen Harps | Corvallis, Oregon (first harp 1984) | Thormahlen family | Corvallis, Oregon |
| Triplett Harps | California, USA (1980 (first harp)) | Triplett family (Triplett Harps, Inc.) | San Luis Obispo, California |
| Venus Harps | Chicago, Illinois (1969–70) | Krasicki family (W&W Musical Instrument Co.) | See guide |
Frequently asked questions
Who owns Lyon & Healy?
Lyon & Healy has belonged since 1987 to the group founded by Victor Salvi, whose Salvi Harps factory is in Piasco, Italy, according to our guides.
What is the difference between a lever harp and a pedal harp?
A lever harp changes key with a lever beside each string that raises it by a semitone; a concert pedal harp uses pedals that change every string of a given note at once.
See also our string instrument brand guidelines.
Part of our Audio & Music brand guidelines. See also all collections.